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By 8 p.m. Tuesday, about a third of registered voters in Monroe County had cast ballots in races ranging from sheriff to superintendent of highways.

According to the Board of Elections, 34 percent of Monroe County voters had participated in Election Day as of that time, an increase of about 3 percent compared with 2013. Turnout was up about 5 percent over 2009.

In Rochester, about 27 percent of voters had cast their ballots by 8 p.m., while about 37 percent of voters in the suburbs had done so.

Turnout for the off-year election was expected to be higher than in 2015 and 2013. About 33 percent of registered voters had been expected to participate in the polls on Tuesday. That percentage was exceeded about an hour before polls closed.

Heading into the voting booth, many voters said the referendum asking whether or not to approve a constitutional convention was at the top of their minds. The proposition, which lost by a wide margin, both here and statewide, would have provided an opportunity for delegates to propose changes to the state's constitution, and then put those changes to a statewide vote.

The state hasn’t held a constitutional convention since 1967, and supporters of a new convention said it would be an opportunity to address chronic political corruption while updating and strengthening the state’s governing document.

Opponents worried that deep-pocketed special interests could take over a convention and undermine existing constitutional safeguards and other entitlements.